Scientists who dig in the ground to uncover information about how people lived in the past are called archaeologists. The work they do is called archaeology. Archaeologists working on colonial American sites use physical and documentary clues to help them discover where to dig. People always leave physical traces or clues where they have lived. Archaeologists call these physical clues artifacts.

Stone and Brick Foundation Structure 1

Building foundations, broken dishes and bottles, animal bones from food, and children's toys are some of the kinds of artifacts people leave behind at places where they have lived and worked. Sometimes these items were thrown away because they were broken or no longer needed, like smashed pottery plates or chicken bones from a meal. Other things, like coins, buttons, and jewelry, were lost by their owners and never found. These artifacts provide archaeologists with clues about how people lived in the past. Archaeologists can also use documents, such as maps, letters, and diaries, to tell them where archaeological sites are located and who lived there.

      Since archaeologists destroy sites as they dig them, they must excavate very carefully so they do not lose valuable data. They make maps, take photographs, and write notes about what they have found. They must also follow certain methods in order to excavate a site properly. The ground beneath your feet is like a layer cake of different-colored and -textured soils. These layers have built up over time, and archaeologists remove them slowly and carefully one at a time. Usually, the deeper the layer of soil is, the farther back in time it goes. Archaeologists sift or screen each layer of soil, saving the artifacts they find from each layer separately. By looking at the artifacts from different time periods, archaeologists can tell what was happening on a site in each period. If they dug out and mixed all of the soils and the artifacts, archaeologists would not be able to know what people were doing there at different times.